Falklands War 40th Anniversary GB

Good to see it up and running Ziggy.

Got paint over my pre-shaing on mt A-4Q

Went to a swap meet this past Saturday and found a Mirage III kit. This will be my Argentine contribution to the group build. This build will be pretty much OOB.

Looking good falcon.

Since the Matra missle will be on the underside of the Mirage, I'm going to pose the airplane on its landing gear and not a stand so I had to add some weight to the nose.

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Sure hope this is enough. I'm out of split shots.

Hopefully that wikll be enough frank.

I made a start on my Scimitar at the weeked, just doing a few bits while i wrap up the 262. Should have an update this coming weekend.

This Academy/Fujimi Mirage III is just a frakking nightmare! It's headed for the recycle bin ASAP. I just ordered the Eduard Mirage IIIC/CJ Overtrees kit and canopy mask. Yeah, I'm going to start this build all over.

fotofrank

This Academy/Fujimi Mirage III is just a frakking nightmare! It's headed for the recycle bin ASAP. I just ordered the Eduard Mirage IIIC/CJ Overtrees kit and canopy mask. Yeah, I'm going to start this build all over.

 

Sorry to hear about your problems. Can you be more specific about the issues you're having.

Yeah, Tomcat, the fit isn't so good and I'm having to use way too much "super glue" to fill seams and gaps. I'm running out of sanding sticks. I thought I could take this lemon and make some lemonade but not so. I guess I'm just lazy and whiney after building some "shake 'n bake" kits.

Sorry to hear that frank. I just trie to find that kit on scalemates but its not listed, which is odd. I will change your entry for you.

This is all there is to see of the kit box. No box art, no instruction sheet, no decals, just plastic. The cost is about 2/3 of the Mirage IIIC Weekend Kit.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/eduard-8100x-mirage-iiic-cj--1154279

Sorry frank, i was reffering to the Academy kit, i could not find that on scalemates.

Finally got started on my first entry. The Falklands War isn't known for the wealth of armour, most modelling subjects are aircraft and ships. The Argentinians did have some armour which mainly stuck to the hard roads of Stanley. The British did not have that luxury and what could be used on the soft peat ground was limited. They did take 9 CVR(t)'s of the Blues and Royals. 4 Scorpions, 4 Scimitars and a Sampson recovery vehicle. I have been wanting to do a vehicle for some time but was not sure of what modifications would be needed. Then a few years back i came across a UK site calle Scvorpion Miniature, and as they name suggests they mainly deal in CVR(t) subjects, both selling AFV Club kits and AM sets, some under their own label and other from HK Creation Miniatures. One of their sets was a Falklands War Conversion, so that was it, i was straight in their, buying the AFV Club Scimitar.

And buying 4 of their AM sets. Clockwise from top left is a backdate set, i don't nee all of this. This is under the HK label but Scorpion sell sections of it seperatly under their own label. Next, the Falklands conversions which can be used on both Scorpion and Scimitar. The second 2 were later additions to their range and i got those as i saw them. A new stowage bin for the rear huill and a turret with the correct shape.

They have recently brance out into other subjects none CVR(t) relkate and have some nice stuff, including a Gulf War Stowage set which includes the correct webbing and backbacks for the Falklands. Now going to order 2 of those.

I also got a set of AFV Club indy liny tracks.

I made a start a few night ago on the running gear. The back date set replaces all the axle arms as well as ading bump stops and other parts.

And then onto the upper hull. This involve cutting out the later hinged forward engine deck and replaceing it with the earlier boted type. Also ade the bolt heads with some hex rob that i have to now cut down to size.

The Scorpion site also has lots of great info on CVR(t) including photos of vehicles in 82, both on Ascenion Island where all the extra stowage was fite and training took place and on the Falklands themselves, so i will be useing that a lot for referance.

The Eduard Overtrees for the Mirage III arrived today along with the canopy paint mask. I downloaded the Mirage III instructions from Scalemates the other day. According to the instructions there is a standing pilot figure and a cockpit boarding ladder. I'm actually going to try for one of those little vignettes like you do with a build, Bish. Looking at those three parts bags, this overtrees kit looks like a lot for the money. This will also be my first build of an Eduard kit. I expect excellent results, even for me.

Look forward to it frank. I have seen these overtree kit on scalemates but wasn't sure what they consisted of. Am i right in thinking you just get the plastic, no instructions, decals etc.

Bish

Look forward to it frank. I have seen these overtree kit on scalemates but wasn't sure what they consisted of. Am i right in thinking you just get the plastic, no instructions, decals etc.

 

That's correct, Bish, just the plastic, but that's OK. I was able to get this Mirage and an F-6D Mustang cheap compared to even the so-called Weekend Kits.

Its a good idea especially if you like building different variants or schemes of the same subject. Most of us have spare decals in the stash and Eduard instructions are easy to find. This way you can either add loads of AM or have a nice cheap but well detailed kit OOB. Pity Eduard don't do Stuka's.

I was getting antsy for a quick ship project, so decided to look over the Sheffield.  Not much to a 1/700 modern naval destroyer after all.  

While pawing through the contents, I noticed a big problem.  No decal sheet is in the box.

I can see where the previous owner pulled the tape off the Dragon card that the PE is attached to.  Buyer beware, I guess.

Fired off a request to Dragon to see if I can order a replacement from one of the newer releases of the subject.  Otherwise I must try and find generic decal sheets to cobble the markings together.  

Hope you can sort those decals out. Is it just the hull numbers or should there be more.

Actually could be quite a bit. Warning markings, draft numbers Etc. I don't know if the British put the name on the ship like the USN, but there could be that too.

Bish

Hope you can sort those decals out. Is it just the hull numbers or should there be more.

 

Looks like hill numbers, warning stripes around the gun and missle launcher, depth gauges, helo deck stripes, and a couple stripes on the funnel.  Other than the numbers, most could be masked and painted.  Really hope Dragon can help me out though!  I cannot find a single generic AM sheet for the modern Royal Navy.

The Hercules is considerably easier, just deck markings and a number 1 one the side.  The font style looks very close to the USN, I think I can scrounge those as a worst case.

I've only built a couple of smaller scale Airfix ships, and they don't come with much.

I searched scalemates and White Ensign use to have a set of 700 RN decals, but it seems they don't do them now. But they don't seem to carry any ship decals in any scale now. Lets hope Dragon help out.

I am still brainstorming solutions, I can maybe order some white decal paper and print up a set.  Building has now hit a standstill, as both versions require surgery on different parts according to the instructions.  Until I can sort out the decal situation, I can't commit to one or the other.

So much for they quick project I envisioned...I will try and get some progress pics up tomorrow.

The Scimitar has come along reall well After 5 evenings work it was all reay for the spray booth. The fit of the resin has been really nice with very little excess to remove.

The bolt heads were trimmed down and most of the parts ae to the hull.

I also got to work on the turret. This has the correct shape that the kit one does not but it does have the later additions introduce afer the falklands including a larger rear bin and large side bins, the same as the kit turret. The backdate set includes a small section of sprue from the AFV Scorpion kit which include the smaller rear bin, commanders set and a few other bit correct for an early Scimitar. As the smaller rear bin is designed for the different shape of the AFV kit it needed some re-working to fit this turret. The raised sections on the turret side are for the large side bins, these have to be sanded away.

And everything else added. The falklands conversion includes the covered barel trough but has you cut down the kit supplied metal barrel. The backdate set has the covered trough and a resin barrel with covered muzzle. Most photo's from the war show the muzzles uncovered, but the kit muzzle was rather poor, to thick and a poor shape, certainly nothing like the RB models barrel i used on my Warrior. So i went for the resin barrel.

And the final bits added to the hul and she is all ready for priming. The turret is not glued on just yet.

Its already had the primer and green base colour. Just got to let it dry for anotehr day and can mask before adding the black.

Last weekend i ordered a couple of sets of the Gulf War stowage set that Scorpion Miniatures recently released. It includes the older wedding and backpacks that were used in 82, before PLCE was introduced, so it will come in very useful. But i also contacted them about a couple of parts i had lost, including one of the resin rear idlers. I asked if i could buy replacments, but Michael Shackleton replied saying he would put the parts in with my order, and they arrived on Thurs. Surperb customer service i must say.

This Eduard Mirage has lots of fiddly parts for sure. Pictures to come.

I got the Scimitar primed and painted green last weekend. But then its been left all week while i finished contruction on the M109. With that primed and painted i got to masking the Scimitar and the black was added this morning. Allpaints are Tamiya, the green is my own mix of NATO green and field grey.

In the photo's from the war, it not easy to make out the schemes on any one vehicle. And as they did not carry markings once they reached the Falklands, its impossable to kow which vehciles you are looking at. So for these reasons i went for a generic pattern that is not based on any one vehicle.

Just got some clean up to do removing the little bits of white tac and then some detail painting before a gloss coat and weathering.

Also in the ref pics, it looks in some photo's that the 3 trip flare boxes have a pattern on them with similar colours to the vehicle and others they look one colour (they are normally brown). I decided to paint them in the camo colours but off the vehicle so the pattern did not match the vehicle.

Thats all for now.

I got the one and only decal added followed by a couple of coats of aqua gloss before weathering.

Also got the front boxes added.

And got the tracks all together.

And some weathering, oil filters and some streaking.

Just getting the tools and stowage together before the final weathering.

Looks good, Martin.  How did they transport these tanks from the UK, ship and landing craft?

Thanks john. yes, they were carried on the M?V Elk to Acension Island and from there to the Falklands on HMS Fearless. There are a couple of pics here of them being transported.

https://www.scorpion-miniature-models.co.uk/the-falklands-before-and-after

https://www.scorpion-miniature-models.co.uk/the-falklands-war

Bish,

I startred the Modelsvit Mirage III EA the other day and began on the pit and engine.

Still some more work to the pit and painting the engine interior. The kit comes with PE, masks and nice decals. Their only problem is there ore no aligning pins, but if I can't assemble a kit without aligning pins after all these years and builds, then I need to get out of the hobby. The third pic is taken down the tail. You can see the PE ring. Nice kit.